Literacy & Puppets

Objective

To promote literacy through puppet play

Materials

Various hand and finger puppets

Children are like sponges, they absorb everything in their environment.  Creating an environment in which literacy can be practiced is important and easily done.  Having books(board books, paperbacks and hardcover) available and within reach in all the areas where your toddler plays is one easy way.  Also, writing materials that are age appropriate encourages practising emerging writing skills.  Bean has colourful wooden letters are a favourite of hers.  Toddlers learn through sensory motor skills so I thought it would be good for my daughter to feel the shape of the letters.  A great gift we received last Christmas were magnetic letters which have also been a hit with her.

A fun way to reinforce some of those early literacy skills is with hand and finger puppets.
Finger puppets are a great tool for promoting language and literacy in young children.  They can be used to tell a story and as props if telling a story or singing a song without pictures.   I use finger puppets when we sing Old MacDonald.  

Bean enjoys playing with her hand puppets most (easier for her to use) she names them and makes the corresponding sounds.  Her father uses different accents for the various puppets which makes it especially exciting for her. ;)

It's easy to make your own puppets if you don't have any.  You just need some socks and a couple of buttons or an old glove for finger puppets!  Below are some of my daughters favourites.

How do you encourage your little one to learn and use words at home?

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Book Review, Llama Llama Wakey-Wake

My daughter really enjoys the Llama Llama series of books.  We first heard Llama Llama Red Pajama at a reading readiness (story time) program that she and I used to attend last year when she was about 5 months old.  It soon became a favourite bedtime story.  Bean has several bedtime stories and a few of them include bedtime routines which is great because she can identify with the characters in the book and (hopefully) do the same.
A few weeks ago I purchased Llama Llama Wakey-wake, because I knew Bean already liked the character Llama Llama.  This book is about the morning routine which was really nice for a change.  Brushing her teeth is not something that Bean does or lets us help her with most days so I find it helps a little bit when we can say that Llama Llama brushes his teeth in the morning (among other things).
After Bean became familiar with it, I would start the sentence and she would complete it with the actions she knew Llama Llama did in the book.
If you're looking for a book with a good morning routine to help your toddlers, this one is great!  Let me know what you think.

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Book Review, Blue Hat, Green Hat

Happy Friday!  Here's another book review, this time it's Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton.  I adore all of Sandra Boynton's books, but I decided to write about this one because it's the first one that Bean giggled at when we read to her.  I am not sure if she understood what was so funny at 9 months old, she probably laughed because we did.   However, she definitely gets it now!  She will now say, "Oops!"  when I point to the silly turkey in the book.
This book is a great book to teach little ones about colours and it's short, simple and funny.  I would not be surprised if you had to read it several times in a row!

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Book Love + Clip-Clop Review

Reading is something my daughter has enjoyed since her first few days as a newborn.   I remember her milk-drunk smiling as my husband read to her while I held her in my arms.  One book that brought her particular joy was Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss.  This book had the ability to calm her when she wouldn't stop crying because the story and the familiar beat and tone with which her father read to her in had become so comforting to her.
After a 10 day trip to Europe, the first thing she did when we got home was head straight to her books to reacquaint herself with her beloved library.   We spend A LOT of time reading!   This is why I'm thinking of making book reviews a regular feature on the blog.  It will include some of Bean's favourites as well as new ones as we discover them with you!

Today, I'll talk about Clip-Clop by Nicola Smee.  We discovered this book at the library and checked it out.  Upon bringing it home, we discovered Bean absolutely adored it.  It's short and cute and can be quite interactive- perfect for children 12 months and up.  It's about a horse (Mr. Horse) who gives a ride to all of his animal friends (great for children to practice naming animals).   It's fun repetition and excited characters are what Bean liked most about the book.  To  make it more exciting, we put Bean on our knee and bounce her up and down to mimic the actions of Mr. Horse.  She giggles with delight and asks for us to read it again and again.  This is one book we had to purchase because it was just too much fun!

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